A Proposal for database design in Amazonian environmental research.

Abstract

Environmental research within lhe Amazon requires datafrom both macro - and micro- observational studies. Collectively botany, ecology, the earth sciences and zoology amass vast amounts of data. For these data to be utilised fully by computer-based methods requires careful management and planning. The choice of data base and design will pre-determine the usefulness of many observational studies. A characterisation of observational study into one of five types: either institutional, local, regional, national or international is proposed. Potentially, the design concepts for information storage and retrieval are different for each type of study but their commonality is discussed.